Sylvester daCunha, creator of Amul's 'utterly butterly' girl, passes away

Sylvester daCunha, the man behind the iconic “Utterly Butterly” Amul girl, is no more. He passed away on Tuesday evening in Mumbai.

DaCunha, a doyen of the Indian advertising industry who has been associated with the dairy brand since the 1960s, co-created the Amul “Utterly Butterly” girl with his art director, Eustace Fernandes. The campaign celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.

It was daCunha who decided to change the “boring image” that had previously been used for the butter brand. DaCunha was quoted as saying that the idea was to have a girl who would “walk her way in the Indian kitchen and the housewife’s heart”.
 

Amul has been associated with witty and tongue-in-cheek moment marketing ads for decades. The first such advertisement imitated the Hare Krishna movement in 1969, with the caption “Hurry Amul, Hurry Hurry”.
 

The Amul girl, with a buttered toast in one hand and a prompt one-liner on her lips, has been a commentator on the zeitgeist for 50 years.
 

Tributes poured on social media for the ad-master with Amul India General Manager, Marketing, Pavan Singh expressing sadness at daCunha’s passing.
 

Jayen Mehta, managing director of Amul marketer Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, termed the demise of daCunha a big loss to the advertising industry. “He is the man behind the Amul girl. He has been part of Amul’s advertising for six decades. Obviously, Amul owes a lot to him for the entire branding he gave to Amul and giving this Amul girl to the world and making it the world’s longest advertising campaign with a single character,” Mehta tweeted.

Lloyd Mathias, angel investor and corporate leader, wrote in a Twitter post, “Sorry to hear about the passing on of Sylvester daCunha, Advertising legend & founder of da Cunha Associates. He was the man behind the Amul girl in 1967 & brother of the late Gerson DaCunha. Deepest condolences to Mrs. Nisha da Cunha & son Rahul. May he rest in eternal peace.”